Hello! My name is Matthew David Scott; I’ve been writing since the late 1990s. I have written a couple of novels, quite a few short stories and had loads of stuff produced for the theatre. Now, I’m old and have children. That’s probably all you need to know about me.  More importantly, I’ve been given the great privilege of looking after the online short stories here at The Lonely Crowd. And I’ve got big plans. I want this to be a space where writers can let rip, my focus being working with you to find out exactly what you are trying to say. I’m not a copy editor, and won’t be chasing you over commas, but I will ask you a lot of questions about intention and structure and style. I’ll give a shit. I’ll care. I’ll do my best. I want the writers I work with to feel that they are being taken seriously, because I think stories are important. But they can still be fun too.    

In terms of my personal tastes, I like work that is self-contained, contemporary and reveals some kind of truth. That’s not to say confessional, more that the writer digs deep, even if what they find is just a little pool of water forming at the bottom of the pit; I want to know about that water. Your work can be quiet or loud, clipped or messy. And apologies, but I don’t know enough about sci-fi and fantasy etc. to do your work justice.   

Anyway, send me your stories – 2500 maximum word count please. Email address below. Just stick your name in the subject field if you can. Thanks, MDS. 

lonelycrowdonlinesubs@gmail.com  

‘Big Mick’ by Connor Harrison: You can read the first story published under Matthew David Scott’s editorship here.

Matthew David Scott is a writer, editor and teacher based in Newport. His fiction has been listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Rhys Davies Short Story Award, and he is a recipient of the Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award, with the theatre company he co-founded, Slung Low. He is on Instagram if you want to say hello: @matthew.david.scott